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identifying stolen geocoins


gifthorse

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I have now been geocaching for a couple of months. Each time I find a trackable, and geocoins in particular, it is such a thrill. I always am in awe of the designs. I have started to think about searching out some to put out for myself. My concern is, if I buy them from a site like ebay or the like, how can I know that the seller didn't just steal them from a cache and is now trying to make a profit on them? Is there any way to verify ahead of time that it wasn't stolen? I always feel for the cachers who have lost their trackables. I definitely don't want to contribute to their loss or allow a thief to succeed in their crimes.

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check seller ratings...if you use paypal and the coin description doesn't say activated and the coin has been activated, get your money back. after you've played on e-bay long enough, you'll begin to recognize names of sellers that can be trusted.

 

ILYK
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Welcome to the forums. I think you will find thare are many nice people here.

 

When I am interested in an activated coin on ebay I always ask them for the tb # (which is different than the tracking code.) That way I can see if they are the owner. I actually did find a stolen coin that way. I have listed very few activated coins on sale but the ones I have I include that tb so people can check for themselves. The people from this forum I conpletely trust so if they say it's theirs I believe them. So I also ask the ebay seller for their caching name. If they won't give me the name or the number I stay away figuring they have something to hide.

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I have had this happen twice.

#1 was a person that just did not know better, when I got the coin it had been activated and I email the owner. They did not know the coin had been sold, I contacted the seller who told me he did not understand that he could not sell the coin he had found, he refunded my money and I sent the coin to the owner.

 

# 2 I bought the coin off Ebay and found that it too was stolen, the seller did not care and I opened a complaint with paypal. The money was refunded, the seller banished from Ebay, and the owner got their coin back.

 

I have bought a lot of coins off Ebay, many have been activated, but not sent into the wild. The owners have sent me adoption requests and now I am the owner of the coin. Personally I keep the log, some of these while not out in the wild have gone to events and been discovered. I like that part of the history of the coin.

 

My advise is buy the coins, pay by paypal.

 

Jay

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One way to avoid the problem is to buy new coins only from the vendour sites or the designer/coin-makers. I know, I know.... easier said than done when you're new.

But check this forum frequently and you'll find some cool links to new releases. Also the Approved Manufacturers and Vendours List can point you in the right direction.

BTW it's really cool that you came to ask questions and be part of the solution.

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Recently I buy geocoins, either in web shops, or websites for collectors, or collectors on eBay (inquire before), or here on the forum, and so far I have not had any problems.

If you ever buy geocoins activated, the seller must be the owner to make an adoption request and transfer ownership to the buyer.

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